Device for junction boxes

ABSTRACT

A junction box is made from a resilient plastic material and has in its envelope surface openings which via narrow slots open towards the open end portion of the box. The wires which are to be introduced in the box are preferably provided with connecting means for electrically connecting them with other wires and at least one of said wires is in addition thereto provided with a sleeve having a reduced portion the dimension of which corresponds to that of the openings such that said sleeve may be received therein. By exerting upon the surfaces at each side of said slot opposite directed pressures said sleeve may be secured to the box and the wires sideways introduced in the box.

United States Patent [191 Hundal Dec. 11, 1973 DEVICE FOR JUNCTION BOXESKjell Hundal, Trombvagen 8, 175 00 Jakobsberg, Sweden Filed: Feb. 14,1972 Appl. No.: 226,044

Inventor:

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS McLoughlin et a1 174/65 R XMiller 174/65 R Brudevold 174/49 UX Primary Examiner-Bernard A. GilheanyAssistant ExaminerD. A. Tone Attorney-Linton & Linton [57] ABSTRACT Ajunction box is made from a resilient plastic material and has, in itsenvelope surface openings which via narrow slots open towards the openend portion of the box. The wires which are to be introduced in the boxare preferably provided with connecting means for electricallyconnecting them with other wires and at least one of said wires is inaddition thereto provided with a sleeve having a reduced portion thedimension of which corresponds to that of the openings such that saidsleeve may be received therein. By exerting upon the surfaces at eachside of said slot opposite directed pressures said sleeve may be securedto the box and the wires sideways introduced in the box.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures DEVICE FOR JUNCTION BOXES The presentinvention relates to a device for junction boxes and. the purposethereof is to provide such a box, that makes the connection ofelectrical wires and wire groups considerably easier and said devicebeing especially well adapted for use in connection with premanufacturedstructural units.

When in the prior art it has been desired to connect different wires orwire groups by wire laying using junction boxes the wires have hithertobeen inserted through holes or sockets made in the junction box for thispurpose, whereafter the wires have been stripped off and connected toeach other. Such a process requires the connections to be made by anelectrician and it isobvious that such installation works can be quitetime consuming since the installer has to make sure that the wires areconnected to each other in the intended manner. By the use ofpre-manufactured structural bodies where of course it is desired that asmuch as possible of the installation work is already done by the timethe units are delivered to a building yard the said process of the priorart is clearly unsatisfactory.

Thus, the primary purpose of the present invention is to provide ajunction box that also enables the wires to be pre-manufactured so thatthe installation works can be made very rapidly in the building yard andeven by a man not skilled in the art. To accomplish this and otherpurposes the invention has the characteristics disclosed in thefollowing claims.

In the accompanying drawings an examplifying embodiment of the inventionis illustrated, whereby:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view through two premanufactured structural bodiesprovided with the new connecting device and 7 FIG. 2 is a perspectiveview of a door lintel comprising two premanufactured structural bodiescontacting each other and including the new connecting device.

Referring to FIG. 1 reference number 1 designates a wall part of apre-manufactured structural body. A number of junction boxes 2 are fixedto said wall part. A second pre-manufactured structural body, to beconnected to the structural body 1, is provided with a rectangularopening 4, that can be closed by a cover, not shown, and said junctionboxes, being fixed to the structural body 1, are accessible through saidopening. Wires 5 belonging to the structural body 1 are preferablyinserted through openings 6 in the bottom surface of the respectivejunction boxes 2. These wires or wire groups are pre-manufacturedaccording to the invention by connecting means 7, known per se, to saidwires or wire groups in order to enable connection to similar wires 8,belonging to the other structural body 3. Also the said wires 8 arepre-manufactured by the connection to connecting means 9, which meansare to engage the connecting means 7. This connecting means 7 and 9 canbe of any suitable kind and comprise a switch plug and a glovecooperating therewith; however, the connecting means are preferably ofthe type, known per se, illustrated in the drawing, and enabling thecoupling of the connecting means in only one position in order toprevent a misconnection. The wires 8, which are not inserted through anyof the openings in the junction box, are preferably surrounded by aflexible tube 10, which in turn is surrounded by a sleeve 11, suitablymade of a flexible plastic material, such as polyethylene or the like,said sleeve being provided with a stop flange 12, from which there isextending an upwardly directed supporting housing 13 as well as adownwardly directed annular member 14 having a lower annular head 15.The junction box has a number of openings 16 in the envelope surfacethereof said openings being open in the direction of the front edge ofthe junction box through slots 17. By manufacturing the junction boxesfrom a material having elastically flexible characteristics it ispossible to insert the wires 8 into the junction box by finger pressingthe areas surrounding the slot in the junction box in directionsopposite to each other. The cylindrical surface 14 of the sleeve therebyhas a diameter approximately equal to the diameter of the opening 16 andit is to be understood that when the parts surrounding the opening 16 inthe casing have been forced to snap below the flange 12, the lower edgebead 15 of the sleeve provides the fixing of the sleeve in the axialdirection thereof while the material of the junction box after beingbrought in its original position also enables the fixing of the sleevein a secure and effective manner to prevent the sleeve from moving inanother direction.

As mentioned above using this embodiment makes it possible topremanufacture the wires so that anyone can correctly connect the wiregroups to each other using a simple hand grip and thereafter usinganother simple hand grip to insert the wires and fix the sleeve to thejunction box, whereafter said box can be closed by a cover, not shown.By applicating the invention to pre-manufactured structural bodies onestructural body is provided with a number of junction boxes and theother structural body, being connectable to the first body, is providedwith a corresponding opening, through which the junction boxes are madeaccessible and thereby electrical wire works are made considera blysimplier and less expensive.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to theillustrated embodiment but can be modified within the scope of thefollowing claims. In order to further reduce the risk for misconnectionfor example the connecting means 7, 9, which are intended to cooperatewith each other, are being marked with a common figure, letter, colour,or the like.

1 claim:

1. A device for the connection of electrical wires comprising a junctionbox having an envelope surface thereof of an elastically resilientmaterial and having an open front, side walls and a back wall connectingsaid side walls, at least one of said walls having at least one opening,at least one of said side walls having at least one annular opening anda slot extending from said side wall opening to the open front of saidbox, at least one rigid sleeve having a first annular flange having agreater diameter than said side wall opening, an annular portion whichis substantially equal to the diameter of said side wall opening and asecond annular flange having a diameter greater than said side wallopening and with said annular portion positioned between said flanges, aset of wires extending through said first wall opening, a further set ofwires extending through said rigid sleeve, means for detachablyconnecting both sets of wires, said rigid sleeve annular portiondetachably extending through said side wall opening with said firstflange positioned inside and against said side wall and said secondflange positioned exteriorly of and against said side wall wherebymanually pressing said side wall on each side of said slot away fromsaid slot a space is provided through which said sleeve and its wiresmay be removed from said box or inserted therein at which time said sidewall will return to its normal position owing to the resiliency of itsmaterial.

1. A device for the connection of electrical wires comprising a junctionbox having an envelope surface thereof of an elastically resilientmaterial and having an open front, side walls and a back wall connectingsaid side walls, at least one of said walls having at least one opening,at least one of said side walls having at least one annular opening anda slot extending from said side wall opening to the open front of saidbox, at least one rigid sleeve having a first annular flange having agreater diameter than said side wall opening, an annular portion whichis substantially equal to the diameter of said side wall opening and asecond annular flange having a diameter greater than said side wallopening and with said annular portion positioned between said flanges, aset of wires extending through said first wall opening, a further set ofwires extending through said rigid sleeve, means for detachablyconnecting both sets of wires, said rigid sleeve annular portiondetachably extending through said side wall opening with said firstflange positioned inside and against said side wall and said secondflange positioned exteriorly of and against said side wall wherebYmanually pressing said side wall on each side of said slot away fromsaid slot a space is provided through which said sleeve and its wiresmay be removed from said box or inserted therein at which time said sidewall will return to its normal position owing to the resiliency of itsmaterial.